The Welsh Werewolf

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Moonlight 0

Did you hear the story of The Welsh Werewolf? I'm new here so I don't know if that topic had already been spoken. I've read about this case on a BBC site, and it really got my attention:

'As most horror film buffs know, a werewolf is a person who changes into a wolf-like creature when the moon is full. This is a myth, as most country-dwellers who know their folklore will tell you.

A real werewolf is said to be a large unidentified species of wolf which has no tail and is usually quite long; often more than seven feet in length, and the animal carries out most of its hunting at night when the moon is full.

But these strange creatures also go on the prowl most nights regardless of whether the moon is full or not. Most people have heard of the Beast of Bodmin Moor and the Surrey Puma.

But there is another violent creature roaming parts of the United Kingdom which has also killed people, and this animal is known as the Welsh Werewolf.

Records of an enormous wolf-like animal in North Wales date back to 1790, when a stagecoach travelling between Denbigh and Wrexham was attacked and overturned by an enormous black beast almost as long as the coach horses.

The terrifying animal tore into one of the horses and killed it, while the other horse broke free from its harness and galloped off into the night.

The attack took place just after dusk, with a full moon on the horizon. The moon that month seemed blood red, probably because of dust in the stratosphere from a recent forest fire in the Hatchmere area.

The locals thought the moon's colour was a sign that something evil was at large and the superstitious phrase, "bad moon on the rise" was whispered in travellers' inns across the region. In the winter of 1791, a farmer went into his snow-covered field just seven miles east of Gresford, and he saw enormous tracks that looked like those belonging to an overgrown wolf.

He followed the tracks with a blacksmith for two miles, and they led to a scene of mutilation which made the villagers in the area quake with fear that night.

One snow-covered field was a lake of blood dotted with carcasses of sheep, cattle, and even the farmer's dog.

The farmer was found locked up in his house in a terrible state. He wasn't harmed physically, but he was terrified. He had barricaded himself in after witnessing an enormous black animal that resembled a wolf ripping the throat out of his sheepdog.

The animal had then gone for the farmer, but he had managed to run into the farmhouse in time. He had bolted the heavy oaken door and hid under a table in the kitchen armed only with a pitchfork.

The farmer said the wolf pounded on the heavy oak door, almost knocking it off its hinges. The weird-looking animal then stood up on its hind legs like a human and looked in through the windows of the farmhouse.

Its eyes were blue and seemed intelligent and almost human-like. The beast foamed at the mouth as it peered in, then bolted from the window to commit carnage on the farm.

The church set up patrols in search of what was suspected to be a werewolf, and bands of villagers braved the freezing blizzards with lanterns, muskets and pitchforks in search of the beast, but only its tracks were ever seen.

Seven years later, two men walking across the Bickerton Hills in Cheshire saw something that sent them running for their lives.

They rushed into an inn and refused to continue their journey until morning. At dawn on the following day, the mutilated bodies of two vagrants were found in a wood just five miles from the inn.

The attacks by the large black wolf gradually died out, and the people of Cheshire and Wales breathed a sigh of relief.

But two centuries later, attacks by a large unidentified animal were reported again.

In February 1992, a national newspaper reported sightings of a strange bear-like animal that had been seen across Wales. In the north of the country, a farmer who had spotted the animal on the night of a full moon said he had afterwards found two of his lambs had been killed.

And in 2001 the local newspaper, the Evening Leader ran a series of articles about sightings of big cats, like a puma in Treuddyn, near Mold, and Bangor-on-Dee, near Wrexham.'

So what do you think about this? I don't believe in werewolves as shapeshifting humans, but, as written above in the article, for me they are unknown species of big wolves. I love to read the stories of those strange wolf-like beasts prowling lone roads or forrests at night... So if you encountered something like that please tell me !

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N-droe 0

I read about it a few times. Doesn't sound friendly does it. But it's not really frightening I think.

It's an animal and animals need food just like we do. It's just that humans cant stand being part of the menu instead of sitting at the dinertable.

Tigers and Lions eat people too when they get hungry and have the chance. They'd rather not, I think we don't really taste good

It can open doors... so can my dog. From the inside and from the outside. That doesn't make it intelligent.

But it's none of these creatures. I think it was a big wolf. And because it was big it had to feed often. But since it was lone, and wolves normally hunt in packs, it had to develop a different hunting tactic (more wild and ferocious) and it couldn't be so picky about what to attack.

Then add a little bit ( ) of exaggeration by locals to it... and voilà there is the mean ferocious beast.

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Moonlight 0

I agree with you N-droe Of course it was a big wolf, maybe a bit more intelligent than others, but certainly not unnatural.But still such stories fascinate me I've read a post of a member 'crosswarrior', check it out. That's a good story

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AnimangaBloodThorn 1

It can open doors... so can my dog. From the inside and from the outside. That doesn't make it intelligent.

580083[/snapback]

...How do you come to that conclusion?

Anyway, this sounds really interesting. I agree that any werewolves out there aren't people who turn into them during a full moon. (I do believe in the odd medical conditions though...) A large and unique wolf sounds more probable.

I've heard about that 'evil moon rising' before somewhere though...I don't think I have read this story before, but that part seemed really familiar...

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Faeden 3

Actually the myth of werewolves come from the old belief that man could change into animals on a full moon. Pagans for 1000s of years have been doing magical rituals that involve wearing animals skins and head dresses, where they supposedly become possessed by the animal they are dressed as, and would act in the manner of that animal, superstitious people watching this would think they where changing into these animals, these rituals would more than not be done under a full moon hence where the legends come from. Also there is a mental disorder called Lycanthropy where the sufferer will believe that he/she is turning into an animal more than not a wolf, in the past people around people with this illness might well believe that they where turning into a wolf.

This story sounds like legend, there are actually few werewolf sightings in the UK in its history, you find them more in northern European countries and Russia. The story in the thread sounds more like the legend of old shuck. Here is something on old shuck I wrote for a web site a while ago........

Ghostly animals are not uncommon but some of the most bizarre and intriguing reports are of demon type dogs and other animals seen deep with in the British countryside, they are spotted on misty moonlit moors, deep dark forests and even in lonely grave yards. A common character of these creatures of ghostly animals are that they are dark in appearance and have red or orange and sometimes green glowing eyes, its also said that anyone seeing these phantom hounds especially if they look directly into there fiery eyes there death will soon follow.

Reports of sightings of these dogs are spotted all over the UK mainly over moors such as the Pennines and flat lands of the southern west country. Another common report is these beasts travel using water ways such as canals and river or streams, some suggest that these dogs and other demonic type beings use ley lines to travel about, whether or not this is true is anyone’s guess.

There howls and growls have been heard by people living alone in country cottages with no one else about for miles, this must have been a very frightening experience for anyone especially in the times before telephones. Many people that live in these remote country places had said you can look out over the moors and see shadowy figures moving about in the moonlight which resemble animals on four legs and again the red fiery eyes are always reported.

Above the first picture and report of old shuck

Its said the Vikings brought them to the British isles and sometimes they are seen headless but yet the eyes can still be seen burning away where the head is supposed to be.

Its also said that the Celts believed that they where spirits of the underworld looking for human souls to devour

Names for these phantom hounds differ in different parts of the country, old shuck is a very common name given to sightings in East Anglia and Norfolk……… Black shuck is common more up north a little such as in Yorkshire, there are many other names around the UK such as Wish Hound, Barguest, the grim, hairy jack ect..... Its been seen in the countryside where I live in Cambridgeshire prowling along the banks of the river Ouse. Its also said that Conan Doyle based his story the hound of the Baskervilles on these legends.

Theirs reports that these hounds have killed people in Blythburgh, another black dog reputedly appeared in the church and struck three people dead as they prayed and left scorch marks on the church door.